"As dawn shines on us every morn,
The fire of friendship is reborn.
And all the friendships we have made,
We cherish in every way,"
As the Seaponies danced and played around the maze of multicoloured coral that filled the Celebration Chamber, all of their voices were raised in song proclaiming their joy and friendship on the First Day of Freedom.
This year, the celebrations were even more energetic and boisterous than they had ever been, as everycreature also celebrated the end of the Storm King's reign and the reclamation of Mount Aris. No longer did they sing the songs of old in remembrance of better time now lost, but instead they now rekindled the old hopes that had once thrived in the heart of every hippogriff.
As the crowd's voices shook the entire underwater cave with the sounds of their revelry, two singers in particular sung louder and more cheerfully than all the others.
"We are a circle of seapony friends,
A circle of friends we'll be to the very end!"
Princess Skystar swung her dance partner about in a dizzying array of whirls, loops, flips, and all other manner of gravity-defying dance moves only possible underwater. Even most seaponies would have found themselves out of breath and struggling to hold on to their bearings after the routine Skystar had put them through.
Silverstream was not most seaponies.
"Woo!" she shouted as the last notes of the song drifted away and those assembled began to chatter amongst themselves once again. She did a twirl as she swam over towards her cousin and hugged her tight. "Let's do that again, cuz!"
Skystar laughed. "Sure thing, cuz!" The next carol started up again, an upbeat tune without words backed by the chanting of the whales, and they pressed their flippers together as they began doing cartwheels in unison.
"Whee!" Silverstream exclaimed as she broke off to do a little pirouette. "I love dancing! Especially when it's with you, cuz." This was a safe place, where she could be free to be whoever she wanted to be, and Silverstream was going to take full advantage of that.
"I know, right?" Skystar replied with a wide grin, which faded after a few moments. "I'm going to miss you so much when you leave for that Friendship School that Twilight's building."
"I'm gonna miss you so much too." Another spin and a whirl. "And Terramar, and mom, and dad, and Queen-Aunt Novo, and Shelly and Sheldon, and everycreature else here!" Silverstream paused her dancing to hug Skystar tight. "I won't forget to write to you," she whispered in an uncharacteristically sombre voice before letting go and smiling again.
"I'm going to get to meet all these new creatures and my professors are gonna be the ponies who save the world multiple times. How cool is that?" Silverstream paused and then added, "I mean, you saved the world too that time, but you're also my bestest cousin so it's like, different?"
The laugh that Skystar gave in response warmed her heart. "I getcha. Those mares are really something else, lemme tell ya. You are gonna have so much fun with them at the school. And you're gonna learn so much to share with us when you get back."
The solemnity of the mock salute Silverstream gave her was marred somewhat by the fact that she was floating upside-down at the moment. "Aye aye, captain! I won't let you down!"
Skystar flipped herself to the same orientation as her cousin so that they could continue their dance. "When you see Pinkie Pie tell her that I said hi! And make sure you get some of her Kelpie Cupcakes at Sugarcube Corner — don't worry, they're made of kelp, not kelpies."
"Will do!" The pair cartwheeled themselves upright just in time to see a younger seapony swimming over towards them. "Hey, little brother!" Silverstream called out as she turned to face him.
"Silverstream, Skystar," Terramar said. "Aunt Novo sent me to find you. We need to get to Harmonizing Heights to prepare for the Second Day."
"Oh, right!" Skystar began swimming over towards the exit. She turned around when she realized her dance partner wasn't following her. "Cuz, you coming?"
Silverstream tried to keep her smile cheerful and carefree. "Well, somecreature has to stay down here and make sure that the shell-stringing goes stringingly, right?"
Terramar frowned. "Dad's waiting for us up there. And since we're kinda part of the royal family, we should be up there too, helping."
"We don't all have to go up there." A hint of strain pulled at Silverstream's smile. "Mom and I can stay down here to get ready for the Third Day, and you can keep dad company, right? And I'll see him when he comes back down here."
"He's been spending more and more time up there," Terramar said, his eyes narrowing. "You can't just keep avoiding him."
"I'm not avoiding him," Silverstream replied. She bowed her head, the bubbles in her heart petering out. "I just... please, can you tell them I'll see them on the Third Day?"
Terramar's expression softened. "Fine. I'll see you around, Silverstream." He swam off for the surface, leaving Silverstream alone with Skystar.
"You're not avoiding your dad, are you?" It wasn't really even a question. Skystar knew Silverstream better than anycreature else.
"Of course not!" Silverstream replied. "I love Mom and Dad both and I want to spend time with both of them even if they aren't spending time with each other anymore." She just didn't want to go where her dad was going. Didn't want to see the burnt-out remains of the houses that hadn't been rebuilt yet, or the monument she knew they were erecting in town square, or any of the other reminders of... before.
Skystar reached out a flipper and placed it on Silverstream's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "He's gone now," she said softly. "I saw it myself."
"I know." The walls seemed to close in on her, keeping her safe and hidden from the world. "You told me, and I believe you. Of course I believe you, why would you even lie about that? I mean, it's not like literally anyone who's been up there can't confirm that so it'd be silly for you to be lying about defeating him. Thanks for that, by the way. You're the most awesomest cousin a seapony could have, you know that?"
"Silverstream." Skystar's expression made it clear that she knew her cousin was rambling more than she usually did. "It's safe now. You can go back home."
"But I'm already home." Silverstream hated how pathetic she sounded. She was supposed to be the seapony who kept everycreature's spirits up along with her cousin.
"You can't stay down here forever." A wry smile graced Skystar's expression. "You got a school to go to soon."
"And I'm gonna be at the school when it opens," Silverstream promised. The school was safe, with the saviours of the world as its professors — they'd be able to protect Silverstream from anything. They wouldn't be stormed by an army of scary guards, not like... like... "I'm not ready," she admitted, her head bowing down in shame.
"It's okay." Another pat. Skystar's voice was warm and soothing even as it never stopped being cheerful and upbeat. "When you're ready, I'll be there with you." A hug, and now Silverstream was suffused with warm love. "I'm already so proud of how brave you are."
Silverstream let out a choking laugh. "Proud? I just told you I'm too scared to go back to our dumb village. You fought his army and saved the world!" And yet, she still didn't feel safe going with her up Mount Aris. It was different, since she was her bestest cousin. She couldn't see her as some epic warrior.
"I was too dumb to really think through what I was doing." Skystar chuckled before leaning in to faux-whisper in her ear. "You might not know this, but I can be kinda impulsive."
That got a smile from Silverstream. "Really? No way! I knew there was a reason I liked you."
"And here I thought it was because I have a great singing voice." Skystar's expression turned serious again. "I didn't really think enough to be scared, but you've had all this time to do nothing but think about how scary it's gonna be going to Equestria. And you're still going, which is how I know you're braver than me."
There was nothing Silverstream could do besides shrug helplessly. "It's too exciting for me to pass up. I wanna learn everything I can about friendship and ponies." She swam around to swing a flipper across Skystar's back. "And don't put yourself down so much — I know how hard it had to be to go against your mom's wishes. Queen-Aunt Novo is super-scary when she's angry."
Skystar smirked. "I think I'm technically still grounded for running away. Anyways, you're stronger than you know, and I hope when you make it to the School of Friendship you can find out just how brave you really are." They shared one last hug before Skystar followed after Terramar, heading up towards Mount Aris and their old home.
"I hope so too," Silverstream said to herself as she put on her smile again and prepared to return to the festivities. It was more fun to be happy than to be scared, and she just had to focus on thinking about happy things instead of scary things and everything would be okay.
"For family not here, my dears,
Having journeyed far and wide.
For loyalty and kindness both,
Take joy at days gone by.
For loyalty and kindness both,
We smile at days gone by."
"Silverstream! There you are!" Princess Skystar rushed over towards the ring of six friends holding flippers together at the center of the Celebration Chamber. "I'm so glad you could make it this year! Sorry I'm late — I just got back from Griffonstone. Mom wants me to start doing more princess things now that we're not hiding anymore."
"Hiya, cuz." Silverstream broke off from her friends to give her cousin a hug. "I've missed you so much. I'm sorry I missed out on the Three Days of Freedom last year, but stuff came up. You should totally try to visit Ponyville next time you're on one of your diplomatic mission things, though."
"Ooh, that's a great idea!" As they extricated themselves from the hug, Skystar pointed a flipper towards the assortment of creatures watching their reunion. "These are your new friends from the School, right? Can I say hi to them?"
"Of course." The pair swam over towards their small audience.
Skystar waved wildly at them, nearly cartwheeling with the force of her gestures. "Hi everycreature! I'm Skystar, Silverstream's cousin!"
There was a silence as the five shared a silent conversation in pointed looks trying to decide who would speak first. Eventually, an oranged-scaled creature swam forward and held out a flipper. "So, you're Princess Skystar, huh?" Smolder said, looking her up and down. "Heard you fought against the Storm King's army in that final battle in Canterlot."
Skystar nodded. "That was me, yup."
Smolder gave her an approving nod. "That's pretty cool. I'm Smolder. Normally I'm a dragon when the pearl isn't turning me into... this." She gestured at her new aquatic body, which Silverstream noted looked a lot like the pictures of the Sirens in her textbooks.
"Oh, wow, a dragon?" Skystar let out an over-the-top gasp as she covered her muzzle with a flipper. "That's so cool! I heard about how all of you saved us from that magic-draining thing last year, which was really cool too!" The excited princess swept forwards and captured Smolder in a sudden hug. Silverstream saw her friend tense for only a split second before relaxing — they'd gotten used to random hugs thanks to her.
One by one, each of Silverstream's friends introduced themselves to her cousin and got their obligatory hugs. Skystar hugs were the best, and Silverstream couldn't help but swim in for a big group hug at the end.
"So, how've you all been enjoying your time in Seaqeustria? Has Silverstream been showing you around?" As everycreature sorted out their limbs while breaking out from the hug, Skystar posed her question to the group.
"It's been pretty cool, I guess," Gallus replied. He glanced around at the walls of the cavern. "Nice to be back in a nice, large room though." Silverstream felt a small pang of guilt for forgetting about Gallus' fear of tight spaces — he hadn't enjoyed the Twisting Tunnels one bit. "And it's nice to have fish to eat again," he chirped happily, his beak snapping at something in the water.
"It's been really fascinating seeing all the different landscapes and flora down here," Ocellus added. She hadn't needed the pearl at all, and had simply shapeshifted into a seapony for the celebrations.
The others chimed in their agreement, and then Silverstream saw Skystar's smile falter. "It's almost midnight," Skystar said softly, shooting a worried glance at her cousin.
Silverstream forced herself to laugh. "Oh, then we should totally head up to Harmonizing Heights for the Second Day Celebrations!"
Everycreature took her words in stride except for Skystar and Gallus. Her cousin shot her a confused look that was tinged with both pride and concern — she knew her well enough to know when she was faking it, and boy was she faking it right now.
Meanwhile, Gallus' eyes burned with faith in her, and that fire burned right into Silverstream's heart. He knew what she'd faced before, knew what she was capable of, and she could see his complete confidence in her ability to face what was coming.
That look made her feel like she could stomp right up to the Storm King himself and tell him to buzz off, and Silverstream held on to that as she swam up towards the surface.
The Pearl's magic transformed everycreature back into their normal forms when they reached the surface. Silverstream and the others all took a moment of stretch out their new limbs once they hit the solid ground at the base of the mountain.
"This way!" Silverstream said, ignoring the pounding of her heart. "We don't wanna miss any of the sky-dancing." Already, she could hear the faint sounds of the wind-song coming down from the Heights, a familiar, welcoming tune that called out to her and asked her to return to where she belonged.
The seven of them ran and flew up the mountain, traveling up the path that led into the heart of the hippogriff homeland. It was different from what Silverstream remembered. There were more small buildings along the way, adorable little houses and pit stops spilling out from the village at the top of the mountain and making it feel less lonely.
Silverstream didn't give herself time to think, letting her wings take her up higher and higher as her friends followed behind her with the kind of speed and endurance that one tended to develop when studying in a school where running for your lives wasn't a totally weird thing to have to do. That probably wasn't a good thing, but Silverstream knew her professors tried very hard and she respected that.
Finally, they reached the entrance, where a pair of huge horse-head statues looked over them. Silverstream gulped as memories of the last time she'd seen them flooded her brain. In her mind's eye, she saw the dark airship in the sky spewing flames and stone as she'd been hurried away along with the rest of the Royal Family, hiding in the shadows of these same cold statues.
A wing brushed against her withers, and she turned around to see Gallus standing there, that same casual smirk on his face that he always wore. "Nice place," he said casually. "So, this is your real home, huh?"
Warmth smothered the panic gnawing at her heart. "Yeah," she said, and this time, her enthusiasm was a lot less forced. "I can't wait to show you my old house, and the palace, and my favorite carrot dog stand." She'd missed all those places so much. Especially the carrot dog stand. Sea Breeze made great carrot dogs, but they got all soggy underwater.
"Then lead the way, your... grace?" Gallus paused, his face scrunching up adorably in thought. "Your aunt's the queen, so you're like a duchess, right?"
"I have no idea!" Silverstream chirped. "I have some kind of title but it's long and boring and who has time to remember stuff like that, right?"
Gallus shrugged. "Fair enough, I guess. So, the tour?"
"Right." Those giant heads were starting to loom again.
Distantly, Silverstream heard her cousin talking. "Silverstream hasn't been here for a while. Maybe I can show you guys around while she goes and catches up with her brother." Skystar turned to face her. "Terramar's probably going to be heading up here soon, and you should be able to intercept him on the way."
For a moment, Silverstream almost said yes to the out that Skystar was giving her. She wanted to run away so badly, to go back to hiding away from this place that had been taken away from her by the Storm King.
But then she saw the worried eyes of her friends, who had all figured out that something was up, and Silverstream knew without any doubt that they would stand beside her. Together, they could take on anything. "Nah, it's fine," she joked. "If everything's where it used to be, I can do this."
Silverstream and Skystar were two peas in a pod, cousins who were both on the same wavelength and just got each other when no one else did. Most creatures assumed that this just meant that when one of them was being super excited or wacky about something the other could follow along, but it also meant that they could have some pretty deep conversations without anyone else noticing.
In those few seconds after she spoke, the looks that they shared conveyed so much more than anycreature could discern, and at the end of it, Skystar smiled. "Alright, I'll go see if Mother needs me for anything. It was nice meeting all of you!" She waved at them before wrapping her arms around Silverstream and pulling her close. "I guess you know how brave you are now," she whispered into her ear during the hug.
Silverstream squeezed tighter. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you. I guess it took five other creatures to drill it into my thick skull. You know how much of a birdbrain I can be sometimes."
A giggle escaped from Skystar's beak. "I'm happy for you, cuz," she said, a little louder this time. "I'll see you in the morning?"
"Of course! We gotta get some sky-dancing in before I have to go back to Ponyville!"
With that, Skystar flew off towards the palace, leaving Silverstream with her friends. Yona, Sandbar, Ocellus, Smolder, Gallus. She'd learned so much about herself from them, and she couldn't wait to see what else they'd do together. Being with them had been exciting, terrifying, fun, and despite all the crazy dangerous stuff they'd gotten up to — or maybe because of it — she wouldn't have traded her time at the School for the world.
And now, they were all here to help her reclaim her village from the last memories of the Storm King.
Silverstream grinned and walked under the stone heads. "C'mon, guys, if we hurry we can catch the first wind song coming out from Harmonizing Heights!"
As she flew, familiar buildings came into view, and Silverstream closed her eyes as memories threatened to corrupt those sights into something dark and scary again. She didn't want to have to hide in the shadows again, waiting for the soldiers to pass and hoping that they didn't see her and take her away and...
"You got this." Light feathers brushing against her wing. Gallus' voice, so certain and cocky. Her friends would stand by her no matter what, and face any darkness with her. They understood, even if not all of them knew, and they wouldn't ditch her for this. Silverstream opened her eyes again, and she saw her home standing proud in the bright moonlit night.
"Alright, everycreature!" she announced, letting her excitement bubble up inside her. "This way! We're almost there!"
A cry of anticipation issued forth from her friends, and together they raced down the streets towards a brighter future than any of them could possibly have imagined.
